Take This Job and Love It: UFC

Ultimate Fighting Championship or U.F.C. has taken over the world of sports.It’s a raw competition of mixed martial arts.We have several U.F.C. fighters from our state. Marcus Davis actually owns a gym right in Brewer.In this edition of Take This Job and Love it “The Irish Hand Grenade” lent Chelsey Anderson a hand in the training just seven weeks away from his fight.————It didn’t take me very long to know I’d be working very hard for this job.Marcus Davis, “The Irish Hand Grenade”- UFC Fighter: “From 6 in the morning until the last class ends at 10 o’clock at night, that’s all I’ve got around me. They certainly won’t get the feeling of what that’s like right here.”Marcus is right. This is a lifestyle. I was not going to be in the cage after a couple hours. Marcus thought we’d start with some important moves.Marcus Davis, “The Irish Hand Grenade”- UFC Fighter: “What I want you to do is bend at your legs.” Chelsey: “Okay.” Marcus Davis, “The Irish Hand Grenade”- UFC Fighter: “You want to be springy.”Marcus Davis, “The Irish Hand Grenade”- UFC Fighter: “You’re going to let your hip come forward first so when this comes. Yes! And then your leg.”Marcus Davis, “The Irish Hand Grenade”- UFC Fighter: “It’s all in the hip, so we’re going to swing the hip and let our leg catch up.”Chelsey: “Okay, am I right again.” Marcus Davis, “The Irish Hand Grenade”- UFC Fighter: “You’re right where you want to be.” (soft thud) Chelsey: “Like that?” Marcus Davis, “The Irish Hand Grenade”- UFC Fighter: “She’s all nervous. Oh my God! I don’t want to break the pad!” Chelsey: “I’m definitely not going to do that!”Marcus Davis, “The Irish Hand Grenade”- UFC Fighter: “Our main area to make contact is the shin. Here. Your shin bone. Okay. The harder part.”(thud) Marcus Davis, “The Irish Hand Grenade”- UFC Fighter: “Each time you get a little better. Now think about this. So you just did this. You’ve only thrown 5, 6 kicks. You would end up throwing hundred of these a day.”Marcus thought he’d show me how it’s done.Marcus Davis, “The Irish Hand Grenade”- UFC Fighter: “I’ll let you hold the pad, and I promise I won’t kick the pad really hard. Okay, so watch how slow I throw.” (thud) Chelsey: “Geez!” Marcus Davis, “The Irish Hand Grenade”- UFC Fighter: “So that’s slow.” Chelsey: “I can’t imagine taking a hit!”Obviously, I’m going to end up on the ground. Let’s work on that.Marcus Davis, “The Irish Hand Grenade”- UFC Fighter: “This is called the guard position. What that means is I’m on my back and my legs are around your waist.”The bottom is never where a fighter wants to be caught.Marcus Davis, “The Irish Hand Grenade”- UFC Fighter: “But there are some things I can do here. One good thing is that I do control your body. So if I need to I can push you away or I can pull you inside.”There’s also the trusty arm bar.Marcus Davis, “The Irish Hand Grenade”- UFC Fighter: “She’ll tell you she can feel. Let me know when that hurts.” Chelsey: “Yep.” Marcus Davis, “The Irish Hand Grenade”- UFC Fighter: “Trying to be as gentle as I can.”Marcus Davis, “The Irish Hand Grenade”- UFC Fighter: “I’m going to apologize for this one right off the bat.” Chelsey: “Okay!” Marcus Davis, “The Irish Hand Grenade”- UFC Fighter: “You’ll see a lot of triangle chokes. Her hands are here. I dump this way and I immediately can choke her.” Chelsey: “Oh my goodness!” Marcus Davis, “The Irish Hand Grenade”- UFC Fighter: “With my legs.” (laughter)He also showed me the Kimura lock.Chelsey: “So do you break these things on people?” Marcus Davis, “The Irish Hand Grenade”- UFC Fighter: “Oh yeah! All the time! Happens all the time!”Even with all these tricks, it’s important to get off your back.There are also a couple submissions that can come in handy.Marcus Davis, “The Irish Hand Grenade”- UFC Fighter: “We have what’s called heal hooks. Where I get inside here and you’ll feel it on your knee.” Chelsey: “Oh yeah. I feel that one.” Marcus Davis, “The Irish Hand Grenade”- UFC Fighter: “That one’s the most dangerous out of all of them.”I thought I’d gotten past some of the most difficult tasks of the day, but I was wrong. Conditioning was next, which is important for weigh ins And for speed and endurance.Marcus Davis, “The Irish Hand Grenade”- UFC Fighter: “What I’m going to do is put you through a plyometrics routine. You ready?” Chelsey: “Has anyone ever fallen off the box before?” Marcus Davis, “The Irish Hand Grenade”- UFC Fighter: “I have no comment to that. You signed a waver right?”Chelsey: “How many of these do I have to do?” Marcus Davis, “The Irish Hand Grenade”- UFC Fighter: “For 30 seconds. 30 seconds.”Marcus Davis, “The Irish Hand Grenade”- UFC Fighter: “Time!” Chelsey: “Ugh!” Marcus Davis, “The Irish Hand Grenade”- UFC Fighter: “Now we’re going to do burpies. Squat thrust and jump, squat thrust and jump.”Chelsey: “Oh my gosh!”No time to rest. On to hop overs.Chelsey: “I’m not good at these! My legs are jello!”I finished those and the weighted jump rope, and lastly the hop up.Chelsey: “Oh dear. Scariest part of the day. Right here.”Marcus Davis, “The Irish Hand Grenade”- UFC Fighter: “One big hop.” (grunt) Marcus Davis, “The Irish Hand Grenade”- UFC Fighter: “You did it!” Chelsey: “Thank goodness!”So after all the kicking, crushing, flipping and jumping, would I get the job?Marcus Davis, “The Irish Hand Grenade”- UFC Fighter: “Anybody has the potential to do this. All that matters is what’s inside the person.”—————Chelsey would like to thank Marcus for allowing me to train with him. If you’d like to see more from professionals, Marcus squares off Saturday, August 28, from the TD Garden in Boston.